Archive

Quotes

There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.

—Anthony Trollope, 1862

In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.

—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1830

The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.

—Tacitus, c. 117

It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.

—Francis Bacon, 1625

The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.

—Herodotus, c. 425 BC

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right.

—Judge Learned Hand, 1944

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

—Laozi

Envy is the basis of democracy.

—Bertrand Russell, 1930

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

—Laozi, c. 500 BC

I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.

—Catherine the Great, c. 1796

People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.

—Robert Byrd, 2005

I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.

—Maximilien Robespierre, 1792

Politics is the art of the possible.

—Otto von Bismarck, 1867